Centreville sidewalk project complete

The fruits of a state grant exceeding $400,000 are being realized in Centreville, as a project to improve pedestrian safety in the village wrapped this week.

By Jef RietsmaJournal Correspondent

The fruits of a state grant exceeding $400,000 are being realized in Centreville, as a project to improve pedestrian safety in the village wrapped this week.The $416,000 Michigan Department of Transportation grant was one of six issued to Michigan communities last year as part of its Safe Routes to School initiative. The amount allocated to Centreville was enough to fund installation of sidewalks along the village’s busiest streets leading to Centreville Elementary and Centreville Jr./Sr. High schools.Chris Sheteron, a former village council member and key figure in the 2009 establishment of the village’s Safe Routes to School committee, said she heard someone say the addition of sidewalks on West Railroad and Charlotte streets are “park-like” in appearance.“It really gives the kids on the west side of the village a safer way to get to school,” Sheteron said. “This time of year, especially, the sun is hitting (drivers) in the eyes as they head east on Charlotte and Railroad, and it just wasn’t a safe experience for the kids to be walking to school along the streets.”She said the safety component of Safe Routes to School is major, but fitness benefits of students walking to school are cited as an additional benefit.Sheteron said parents previously concerned about safety can now decide whether it’s OK to let their child walk to school instead of making a four- or five-block drive to school and back home.Initially, the grant and subsequent sidewalk program was met with some opposition by village residents who believed trees and bushes would be removed as part of the project.Sheteron said work crews were careful throughout the process and many concerns anticipated by opponents did not materialize.“I know of a few people who say in hindsight they overreacted and they like what the sidewalks have added to the village,” she said. “And I have to compliment the work crews because I haven’t heard one complaint or anything bad about the work they did.”Rob Kuhlman, superintendent of Centreville Public Schools, said that, as its name implies, Safe Routes to School has definitely provided that experience for pedestrians.“Clearly, there are much safer routes to school in place now than there were previously,” Kuhlman said.Sheteron expressed gratitude to Centreville Downtown Development Authority, which agreed to front the $416,000. A condition of the federal grant, administered through MDOT, calls for the amount to be reimbursed by the state agency.In essence, Sheteron said, MDOT had to be assured recipients of grants had the money it was being awarded, and it would then repay the amount within a 90-day period.She said without DDA fronting the money, Centreville probably would have been forced to forfeit the grant.